The African Democratic Congress (ADC) governorship candidate in the Osun State governorship election, Najeem Salaam, has alleged that some of the party’s agents were denied accreditation tags by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) across several local government areas.
Salaam described the development as “worrisome and disturbing,” noting that the names of the affected agents had been uploaded on the INEC platform ahead of the election.
He alleged that ADC agents in Ward 5, Ijebu, were not issued accreditation tags, adding that similar complaints had emerged from about 10 local government areas across the state.
“The report of my agent being recognised in most of the wards across the state is worrisome and disturbing,” Salaam said.
He stressed that the accreditation and recognition of party agents were crucial, particularly during the counting of votes at polling units.
“Because when they are counting the votes, it will be necessary for my agent to be recognised at the polling unit,” he said.
Salaam said the matter had been reported to the relevant authorities, who were looking into it. He, however, noted that the election remained peaceful in Ijebu at the time of his assessment and expressed hope that the exercise would remain peaceful through the conclusion of the poll.
Questioning INEC’s preparedness, the ADC candidate said the failure to issue tags to agents whose names had already been submitted raised concerns about the credibility of the electoral process.
“When you request for the party to upload their party agent and we did, I don’t understand how and why the party agent will not be given a tag,” he said.
“So if at the end of the day we do not have this, then the process is very questionable.”
On his chances of winning the election, Salaam expressed confidence, saying he expected to emerge victorious if the poll was conducted fairly and without rigging or manipulation.
“For it to be a fair and fair election, with no rigging, manipulation, a level playing field, I trust my God that I’m going to win the election,” he said.
Salaam also denied allegations that the ADC was involved in vote-buying, insisting that the party had focused on communicating its programmes and policies to voters.
“Vote buying is out of it. I have never in my life bought votes,” he said.
He urged voters to freely choose their preferred candidates, while expressing concern over what he described as the large sums of money allegedly being circulated across the state during the election.
